Software Provides Foundation for IoT-based Automation Strategies

Beckhoff Automation

Dec 30th, 2019

Beckhoff Twin Cat Cloud Engineering Software

Engineered for IoT and Industrie 4.0 applications, Beckhoff Automation TwinCAT Cloud Engineering software allows users to instantiate and use existing TwinCAT engineering and runtime products directly in the cloud. Accessible with a web browser, it offers a central, open machine control platform and enables machines, plants, and production lines to be connected. Users can run separate TwinCAT Cloud Engineering instances with different software versions, all of which are remotely accessible.

Make plans to visit PACK EXPO East in Philadelphia, March 3-5, to see on-trend food processing and packaging machinery and materials.

Nourished’s personalized vitamins and Life-stacks are 3D printed to layer different “mixes” of active ingredients, which are specifically suited to the consumer's individual requirements.

Nourished’s 3D-printed Supplement Stacks Deliver Personalized Nutrients

Based on a consumer questionnaire, ingredients are printed in stacks on in-house developed tech to offer a bespoke 28-day supply. The resulting colorful, customized gummies are packed in home-compostable wrap in a letterbox-friendly carton.

Spending Forecast for Cobots

Over 50% of CPGs to Increase Cobot Spending

The suspected surge in cobot spending comes at a time when companies are just starting to grasp how to take advantage of them.

Veo Robotics’ FreeMove system being tested with an ABB robot in a palletizing operation.

Industrial Cobot Technology Comes to Palletizing Operations

Veo Robotics’ partnership with Gray Solutions is designed to make industrial robot palletizing systems collaborative for the consumer packaged goods industry.

Cobot Explosion on Horizon

CPG Cobot Use Expected to At Least Double in Next Five Years

CPGs predict cobot usage in packaging will more than double in the next five years, with processing use expected to triple according to PMMI report.

The Paperless Process Recorder records process parameters like temperature, flow, and pressure, and uses the Legendary cloud-based software to securely store those records.

Digital Recorder Replaces Cumbersome Paper Charts

With its Paperless Process Recorder and cloud-based Legendary software, Anderson-Negele aims to digitalize—without necessarily reinventing—the recording of process parameters in food and beverage plants.

Bulk Bag Filling: Increase Bulk Material Packaging Efficiency

Bulk Bag Filling: Increase Bulk Material Packaging Efficiency

Move beyond constraints of build-to-order machine manufacturers. See how engineered-to-application bulk bag filler design and construction increases bulk material packaging efficiency and accuracy.

Getting supply chain management and planning right is one of the most effective shock absorbers any food and beverage processor can have, shielding them from fluctuations in availability and demand.

How to Tame an Unpredictable Supply Chain

Supplies are being disrupted both coming and going for food and beverage manufacturers. Shifting philosophies, combined with a range of digital technologies, could help make operations more predictable and resilient.

MAB’s new facility makes Mike’s Hard Lemonade, White Claw Hard Seltzer, and other ready to drink brands and will provide increased capacity to keep up with consumer demand in the eastern U.S.

Mark Anthony Brewing Goes for the Gold Standard

The largest and most technologically advanced brewery built in the U.S. in the past 28 years, a 1.3 million-sq-ft highly automated, fast-track greenfield facility wins a Manufacturing Innovation Award from ProFood World.

The stroke of the LinMot actuator in the Forpak application - this graphic demonstrates the footprint of the axis.

OEM's Head-to-head Pneumatic vs. Servo Test Shows CPGs Savings

Stacking equipment manufacturer Forpak devised a test to see how incumbent pneumatic actuators stacked up against newer mechatronic servo technology, specifically on a frozen food stacking and laning application. These are the results.

Fso Roadmap Final

Automating Your Plant Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

An automation roadmap identifies the key steps that help define the process of developing your automation strategy and includes a formal decision-making process on how to proceed properly.

Wago 221 Series In Line Splicing Connectors

Wago Inline Splicing Connectors Provide Slimmer Design

Offer greater flexibility

Bulk Bag Filling: Increase Bulk Material Packaging Efficiency

Bulk Bag Filling: Increase Bulk Material Packaging Efficiency

Move beyond constraints of build-to-order machine manufacturers. See how engineered-to-application bulk bag filler design and construction increases bulk material packaging efficiency and accuracy.

Ashworth Smart Spiral Phone Close Up, Other Pic Available Pat

Ashworth Monitoring System Minimizes Production Downtime

Allows access to multiple spiral/plant locations

Getty Images Digitalworkflow

The Workforce Undergoes Its Own Digital Transformation

Tools that will help manufacturers tap into and transfer knowledge across the organization.

Aaron 082720 Web

Automation Doesn’t Have to Require a Complete Overhaul

Small changes can make big improvements to the efficiency of your operations.

Force Control Products Made In America

Force Control Industries Offers Made in America Industrial Clutches and Brakes

This family-owned company designs, manufactures, inventories, and services industrial clutches and brakes. It has been manufacturing domestically for over 50 years, supplying cost-effective Buy American Act-compliant industrial products.

Bosch Rexroth Amr

Bosch Rexroth AMR Improves Safety and Productivity of Manufacturing Facilities

Can automate material handling applications without additional external infrastructure

New Industrial Control System Security Threat

The U.S. government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency issues new alert about attacks targeting ICS/SCADA devices.

Staubli Robotics

Stäubli Robots Transform Cheesemaking

The company’s specialized hygienic robots for cheese production to be showcased at CheeseExpo 2022

Guidewheel Dashboard March2022

Digital Transformation of the Industrial Workforce

The tools that help Pretium Packaging, Covestro, and J.M. Smucker Company tap into and transfer tribal knowledge on the factory floor.

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4 Ways to Ensure Your Data Lake Doesn’t Become a Data Swamp

To make data lakes work for time-series data, it’s important to add good metadata, ensure the ability to connect your analytics platform to your data lake, and take steps to improve data lake performance for data analysis.

Predictive maintenance uses data from sensors to detect problems well before machines go down, making it possible to schedule repairs at the best possible time.

Moving Maintenance From Preventive to Predictive

The technology is available to provide the kind of maintenance know-how that will keep operations humming along. But the average plant will need to overcome some hurdles to realize the benefits.

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High-Speed Pick & Place is Washdown Ready

The Orics DS Series robot is constructed from stainless steel, designed to withstand harsh washdown water and steam environment in the food, chemical, and medical industries.

Kuka Robots Are Designed for Hygienic Food Processing

Meet all safety and hygienic requirements

Amway was able to apply one control and information system, Rockwell Automation’s PlantPAx distributed control system, across all processes to improve capacity and product quality, save energy and raw materials, and reduce process variations and human intervention.

Amway’s Energy Drink Meets Skyrocketing Demand Through Digital Thread

The PlantPAX control system from Rockwell Automation is enabling greater operator efficiency, real-time troubleshooting, simplified data analysis, and increased manufacturing flexibility, among other improvements, through increased connectivity.

Wago Edge Computer

Wago Computer Is Built for Powerful, High-end Applications

Offers low latency control, a high level of determinism, and simplified north/south connection with cloud-based services

A desktop screen shot of the SafetyChain software showing package weight trends.

User-Defined Continuous Improvement Software

SafetyChain’s plant management platform is a personalizable suite of software delivered as a service that addresses data capture and visualization as well as worker task direction from receiving and processing to regulatory compliance.

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Onexia's HD Palletizer for Heavy Lifting

Demonstrated at PACK EXPO East, the collaborative robot can lift up to 38 pound payloads.

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Live at PACK EXPO East: Hygienic Feeder Reduces Labor Need for Food Assembly Line

The Ultimate Feeder from Hoosier Feeder Co. incorporates a hygienic design for the food industry, increasing the automation of the singulation and orientation of bulk product such as bread or meat patties to ready them for packaging.

Tutor March2022

Tutor Intelligence Rewrites the Rules of Collaborative Robots

The MIT startup unveils vision system software that uses situational awareness to adapt to its environment.

PerformOEE's Plantwatch screen shows all plant floor assets and status.

OEE: A Top Business Metric

PerformOEE Smart Factory Software from OEESystems International looks to extend the overall equipment effectiveness metric beyond its plant floor roots to link CapEx to realistic operational improvements.

Don’t be the Reason your Company is Attacked

unPACKed with PMMI Podcast: The Cybersecurity Frontlines

Small and medium-sized manufacturing operations are now the companies that hackers and bad actors target the most